Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Have some feature requests, feedback, cool stuff to share, or want to know where FreeCAD is going? This is the place.
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Kunda1
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by Kunda1 »

Celica_Supra wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:22 pm Nice. That gives me a few more ideas for videos that I can work on after I finish the Corsair up. I can provide some screenshots of the SolidWorks ribbon that highlight the commands and where to find the equivalent in FreeCAD
Fantastic idea! Also your videos are awesome. Some of the highest quality I've seen.

Off topic, some feedback, what would be super helpful is if you have some program running similar to @microelly2 that shows mouse clicks and keyboard strokes. This would also help folks that are more visual then auditory. You can see the app running in his latest vid: https://youtu.be/s0edyPLpnXo
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by Celica_Supra »

Kunda1 wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 9:53 pm
Celica_Supra wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:22 pm Nice. That gives me a few more ideas for videos that I can work on after I finish the Corsair up. I can provide some screenshots of the SolidWorks ribbon that highlight the commands and where to find the equivalent in FreeCAD
Fantastic idea! Also your videos are awesome. Some of the highest quality I've seen.

Off topic, some feedback, what would be super helpful is if you have some program running similar to @microelly2 that shows mouse clicks and keyboard strokes. This would also help folks that are more visual then auditory. You can see the app running in his latest vid: https://youtu.be/s0edyPLpnXo
Thank you! I'll take a look at the app.
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Kunda1
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by Kunda1 »

Really great update to the Solidworks wiki page Transitioning_from_Solidworks_to_FreeCAD#Tips section
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edwarlo
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by edwarlo »

I'm a new user, with significant experience in solidworks but I am leaving my education institution so won't have access anymore, and I don't have $4k in my back pocket for a license!!

I will try and record my experience as I go along with the switch. I have a fairly complex project that I will remodel which should cover all of the basic aspects and hopefully I will be able to significantly highlight the differences and "translations" of SW tools to FreeCAD equivalent ones.

Feel free to prod me if it takes a while to actually post updates!
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by freedman »

In most all CAD programs I would click on a face to create a sketch for a hole, this action in FreeCAD starts a chain of events that requires learning so much. It's all good stuff to learn but the timing is not very good, normally the user is just starting to do a few things.

Would a guide be written for pre or post TNP?
chrisb
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by chrisb »

freedman wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 am Would a guide be written for pre or post TNP?
Currently it is pre. I remember a single announcment of Werner, that he wants to include the TNP improvements in 0.20. So there is definitely hope, but we don't really know what is happening behind the scenes, neither if this is going to happen, nor when.
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by edwarlo »

freedman wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:21 am Would a guide be written for pre or post TNP?
Having not heard of TNP and looking it up, My experience with Solidworks is that this happened quite a bit there too, when a parametric change caused lines to intersect in a different way, and then faces had different verticies, inevitably causing rebuild errors and I'd have to reassign a sketch to a new plane, or an extrude to a new reference point.
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by chrisb »

edwarlo wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 10:07 am My experience with Solidworks is that this happened quite a bit there too, when a parametric change caused lines to intersect in a different way, and then faces had different verticies, inevitably causing rebuild errors and I'd have to reassign a sketch to a new plane, or an extrude to a new reference point.
Thanks for this input. It doesn't really make things better, but it is good to know that others have theese problems too. I am with drmacro here: if you model thoroughly, models can be made almost as stable as they can get in other systems, including the LinkStage3 branch.

The secret for good modeling is here: use always the first occurrence from which a reference can be derived. There is no chance (well except for the case where an error is accidentally repaired by another error, which I have never seen until now) that things get worse by using this techniqe, but chances are very high that they get better.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by bambuko »

As someone who used quite a few different CAD system over many years, I know very well that FreeCAD is not unique,
(although perhaps slightly more "sensitive") in being vulnerable to TNP and changes in the model.

In FreeCAD, even Link branch (often touted as a "solution") is not totally immune.
In both Master and Link dealing with is easy if you model sensibly and thoroughly, and if the inevitable happens
(as it sometimes does in FreeCAD and other CAD systems) is quite easy for reasonably proficient user to sort it out.
Plus, of course there are ways to make models more stable.

I personally think TNP issue is exaggerated and easily handled with already available tools.

Like everything else faced by people migrating from other CAD systems,
it requires change of attitude.
from:
"...I used to do it this way, why is FreeCAD different?, I want it to be the same as what I used before..."
to:
"... Let's learn how it works in FreeCAD, past experience is useful but not always transferable..."
I am using Link branch and Assembly3
you can also download ... and try it here
excellent Assembly3 tutorials here
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Zolko
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Re: Anyone willing to collaborate on writing guides for users coming from other CAD/CAM solutions to FreeCAD?

Post by Zolko »

bambuko wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 11:30 am I personally think TNP issue is exaggerated and easily handled with already available tools.
I agree

Allthough I do think that the situation can be improved, especially for sketches: draw a rectangle, exit, and check the edge numbers. Go back to editing the sketch, change one side of the rectangle to "construction", and the edge numbers are altered: this should not happen, and should be fixed, because there is nothing you can do about careful design.
try the Assembly4 workbench for FreCAD — tutorials here and here
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